Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams has said he will make a Dáil statement on the IRA's 1983 murder of prison officer Brian Stack.

He said he had already dealt with the matter in substance, and he would make a statement in the House if time was made available to him.

“But let me make it clear, I have never accused anyone of being a suspect in the murder of Brian Stack because I don’t know who the suspects might be.’’

He was replying to Taoiseach Enda Kenny, who said Mr Adams should make a statement under privilege in the House.

"This is not fiction,'' said Mr Kenny. "A man was murdered in cold blood and his killer is at large . . . people know who that murderer is.''

Mr Kenny said Mr Adams knew more about the killing than he did.

The Taoiseach said he would meet Mr Stack’s son Austin. “This is a very serious matter, and is one that deserves to be cleared up once and for all. A murderer is at large, people know who he is.’’

Information

Mr Kenny said being disciplined or not by the Provisional IRA was no substitute for the State’s laws. Those who had information should come forward and tell the truth.

The issue was raised by Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin, who said Mr Stack's sons had resolutely denied they had given the Sinn Féin leader names, allegedly associated with the killing, which he passed to the Garda Commissioner.

He said a key point was that Mr Adams, as the leader of a parliamentary party in the House, would take two young men in a blacked-out van to an undisclosed location, somewhere near the Border, to meet an IRA man and be told the person who had killed their father had been “disciplined’’ and that what happened was regretted.

It was not stated how he had been “disciplined’’, he added.

He said Mr Adams had said he had taken notes at the meeting and that the individual was a friend of his who knew what had happened. He asked if the notes had been sent to the Garda Commissioner. “This is a live murder inquiry.’’

Accountable

He said the “

Provos

know who did it’’ but were not answerable in the House. Their parliamentary representatives were not being held accountable in the House.

“Yet they expect everyone else to be held accountable on every other issue concerning injustices perpetrated on many citizens on this island. They are living in a parallel universe, in which rules apply to one group but not to anyone else.’’

Mr Martin said Mr Adams allegedly had four names which he said he was given in 2013, but he did not tell anybody until last February when the issue was raised in the general election.

“This is a murder. It is not about an election campaign or boxing clever in the middle of it.’’

Mr Adams accused Mr Martin of using his good faith in helping the Stack family in “a very, very opportunistic, cynical and contemptible way’’.

Mr Kenny said it was utterly unacceptable a man was shot and died later. “All these years later we now hear the names of the persons allegedly involved being supplied.’’